Posted
by
ScuttleMonkey
on Monday October 13, 2008 @02:27PM
from the enrollment-and-dropout-numbers-to-spike dept.

alphadogg writes to tell us that one freshman class has a little more than usual to be excited about. When students at Abilene Christian University showed up for their first days of class they were greeted with the choice of either a new iPhone 3g or an iPod Touch plus a package of custom web apps to use on them. "The hardware is part of the Texas university's pilot mobile learning project, which has been gestating for over a year. About 650 first-year students chose the iPhone, and about 300 the iPod Touch, which is a very similar device but without the 3G radio (both devices incorporate an 802.11g Wi-Fi adapter). ACU pays for the hardware, student (or their parents) select and pay for their monthly AT&T service plan."

I can think of Departments that have OS specific requiremetns (Specifically Windows). Mind you, this is because the applications they require students to use are not available for other OS's. Engineering programs routinely have this trouble.

I didn't know that the iPod or iPhone was limited to one OS. That's so very odd...

Oh wait, it's not. Get off you anti-Apple soapbox and grow up a bit.

This is similar to a grant awarded to the 7-8 Jr. High School I teach at to give every student a Palm for a year. Didn't work too well, but then again, the software we had wasn't what we needed, we had minimal support, and 12~14 year olds are considerably more immature than college freshmen... Well, maybe not that much less mature, but you get the point.

I didn't know that the iPod or iPhone was limited to one OS. That's so very odd...

Oh wait, it's not. Get off you anti-Apple soapbox and grow up a bit.

To be fair, most of the web apps designed around the iPhone either fail entirely in a desktop browser (user-agent detection), fail entirely in anything other than Safari (use of certain CSS properties, for example), or have no good desktop equivalent.

This won't be a problem for any of these students, but data speeds aside, the heavy javascript that's in most web apps just doesn't play too nicely with the iPhone's processor. Even over WiFi, most web apps are fairly slow to load, and of course tend to be qui

Normally I would have stayed clear of this Apple vs. anti-Apple discussion. However, a sort of irrational bond with my stolen Nokia E65 has prompted me to make the following comments:

A Symbian S60 based smartphone (and there are quite a few out there) has the advantage of being easy to synchronise on Windows, OS X, and Linux with minimal adjustment (the last I knew of the iPhone, you had to jailbreak to be able to do Linux. If this is not true anymore, please ignore this comment).

S60 is an established, stable, platform and is used by more than just Nokia (Panasonic, LG? Some others I cannot remember). All APIs are publicly documented and parts of the source are available to developers (AFAIK).

Nokia has announced that it plans to open-source Symbian and the associated platforms: S60 and UIQ.

With all this, I would have chosen an S60 phone to work with. It also has the other advantage that if you feel that the phone you've chosen at the moment doesn't quite cut it, you can just provide a more powerful phone later, because S60 is going to be around a long time. You can keep going forward with the same software.

The slightly more expensive Nokia N96 matches up to the iPhone in most departments, I think, and it is possible that a much less expensive phone will meet the students' needs. Still, maybe they find it more convenient to code with Apple software, in which case the whole argument is moot.

the phone you've chosen at the moment doesn't quite cut it, you can just provide a more powerful phone later, because S60 is going to be around a long time. You can keep going forward with the same software.

Do you REALLY think that Apple will break App Store app compatibility? Especially in that direction. Consider:

Apple made App Store retroactive (so to speak) to the EDGE-based original iphone. This definitely cost them sales of the 3G since if they hadn't, probably some people

Fair enough, I should have said, "limited to being used with one OS." Out of fairness, can you name me any other small internet enabled device that is not a "netbook" that can run multiple OS's? Everything I can think of that falls in this class of device (PDA-ish or MP3 player with additional features) is locked to a propriety OS, be it OSX, WinCE, Palm, or something else. Very rarely can you change it out, even if it is an Android phone. It's still limited to what it came with. Perhaps the people in charge of this decision went for a combination of an OS they could get software for fairly easy, a decent UI, and a piece of tech that has something of a "cool" factor to entice students to spend their college money at their private institution.

From what I would understand of this type of program, the software is to be loaded on the device so that the students can work even when not connected. It's not just accessing a remote, web-based app. The university would still have to lock down to one OS choice for that to be viable.

There are tons of apps that turn the iPhone into a wireless mobile drive. I have one that I got for free that uses webdav to make the iPhone a wireless drive that can play/read/display almost any content my laptop can (audio, doc, spreadsheets, pdfs, etc.) I keep all my syllabi and digital readings on it.

They do have their choice of music player and phone. The students would just have to buy it themselves. The purpose of this program isn't to provide a music player or a phone. The purpose is to provide a mobile platform that provides support for their custom apps, a web browser that's usable for research on the go, and a video player that integrates with iTunes U for podcast video content of lectures and support material. You could halfway do some of that with a device from another manufacturer, but you'd have to work at it and it would always be a kludge. Think of it as the school providing a learning tool that just happens to come with your choice of a free music player or a free phone....:-)

P.S. AFAIK, iTunes should work in recent versions of Wine, complete with iPod/iPhone syncing.

Universities should be OS-agnostic when it comes to student requirements

You can make that argument in this specific case - but in the broader scope, it just doesn't work in the real world. In our department (electrical engineering) we have a number of software requirements that are industry driven. Several of these are Windows only. One could argue this is a bad thing - and I wouldn't disagree - but we have to keep in mind that a university's end goal is generating students that are employable, and the university's IT staff is employed specifically to help acheive that goal.

Abilene has had this program for a long time now. They piloted it on the original iPhone, and were Apples poster-child for demonstrating the iPhone as a platform.

And no, in their case, it makes no bloody sense at all to allow multiple-OSs. They have developed the iPhone to the hilt, integrating everything from school maps, class schedules, class notes, recordings of classes, messaging, notices, etc., all into one integrated platform. There is no way they could have accomplished the same thing on mobile devices if they had to support mixed platforms, without making it both harder to use, run slower on mobile devices, and a support nightmare. The iPhone provided them an ideal opportunity, and they took it. More power to them.

Could they have gone open? Sure. If Android had been available already, perhaps they would have gone that direction. But you can be sure that even if they went open, they would have settled on ONE platform for the same reasons as noted above.

Consider this - Until the iPhone there was no practical device of the kind for browsing the web, with the full power of the web. As noted many times in this article, all previous generations of mobile browsers sux0r.

Kind of pointless to talk about supporting other platforms when there are, as yet, no other platforms to support (speaking of the mobile web, that is). They say, in the article, that they can always evaluate Android later.

Except a mac can run Office, and even dual-boot into Windows or Linux so you can have the best of all three worlds, instead of being locked into one platform. Not to mention that if you want a job in the film or sound editing industries, you'd better be conversant with programs like Final Cut and Logic.

Personally, I think it could be extremely useful for teaching coding, nontraditional photography, etc. Besides which: a growing number of private schools are already requiring standardized laptops for ease of pushing out course content and regularizing CS/ECE hands-on curriculum. This is just the next (inevitable?) step.

Personally, I would be seriously pissed if I knew that some of my tuition was going to pay for an iPod/iPhone. I don't want an iPhone because Verizon has been working perfectly fine for me so far and I'm not about to switch. I don't want an iPod touch since since, after all, I've been perfectly content without an mp3 player at all. Great, it might be useful to some classes when a professor decides to integrate it into their class. How many classes are going to require this? Would a laptop (which I already own) suffice instead? I don't really don't want to get stuck with a single company force feeding me their products because of the university I attend. Give me some third party options at the very least. What gets me so epically pissed is that they pass it off as ACU paying for it when we know where that money comes from: tuition aka students.

Granted, I have some classes where internet access is more or less a must, but I'd rather have a nice, full keyboard and a reasonable screen that I can put my own software on rather than being shoved a piece of hardware required by the university. Give options, don't mandate one (or two nearly identical) devices.

When we wanted to waste time and not study back in my day, all we had were fraternities and sororities. Kids today with their new-fangled distractions and time-wasters don't know how lucky they have it. They've got hundreds of reasons not to go to class right there at their fingertips. We had to *WORK* at it when we goofed off! We didn't even have pagers or MUD's back then!

I really don't think anyone will have too much success playing a MUD from an iPhone. Might be fun to try for about ten seconds, but I expect that the net result would be a very busy IT staff dealing with shattered devices and the suicide rate quadrupling.

It's not a phone, it's a platform for the latest killer app......GunmanTracker.

When any iPhone detects gunfire, it reports its position to a central server, which then creates a Google Maps mashup that shows the location of the gunman on all other students' iPhones.

If the iPhone is being carried BY the gunman, the phone is supposed to shock them like a taser would. Unfortunately in testing all the power that could be mustered from the battery would just tickle at best, and there apparently wasn't any way

I think they were trying to offer a volume discount to the students, but they don't have a way to opt-out and save money!

In fact, a better idea would be to offer the devices for sale at a discount, so that the program is opt-in instead.

And the best idea would be to ditch it the program altogether because I don't see these devices significantly improving the student's education. However, I can easily see them distracting the students.

I think they were trying to offer a volume discount to the students, but they don't have a way to opt-out and save money!

The school wants them to all have the same device with the same capabilities. That's why they can't opt out.

And the best idea would be to ditch it the program altogether because I don't see these devices significantly improving the student's education.

Obviously you missed the point of this exercise. The school thinks the exact opposite, and believes that everyone having the same device will allow them to better utilize it (the school and the students). Duke has had a rather successful program using iPods for several years now.

Not at ACU. I had a friend that went there. Very nice girl but had to sneak to a different town so she could go dancing.Very strict Christian school. Hey I don't have a problem with that since you only go if you want to go.

Pssst. There nothing in Christianity that would prevent someone from going dancing, unless by 'Christianity' you mean something other than living your life according to the principles espoused by the figure known as 'Christ' in the Gospels and accepting that same person as your 'personal Lord and Savior' (whatever that may mean for you).

Full disclosure: I was once but am no longer Christian; however, I understand more about Christianity than most people who would call themselves 'Christian'.

Oh I do agree with you. I am a christian and even go to church.ACU is just a very strict school and there belief system says that dancing is bad.I felt bad for my friend because she choose to go to that school yet felt the need to had the fact that she liked to go out dancing.But that is just me but I am with you that I don't think that there is anything immoral with dancing. I just try to respect others faith even if I don't share it.

ACU student here. Either your friend went here a very long time ago, or there's been some kind of miscommunication, because the school doesn't have a "no dancing" policy - if we do, somebody ought to tell the school's swing dance club. There are, however, no real dance halls in Abilene, so it's definitely not easy to find places to do it around here.

Oh it was about 20 years ago. Maybe it was just her. Very sweet girl and a good friend.So yes it was a long time ago and there could have been some miscommunication. Maybe it was that she was going out dancing at a club that served alcohol?The orginal post had nothing to do with dancing. I was posting that an application that would tell you who was sleeping with whom at ACU should be.a. Uselessorb. a directory of married students.Of course I could be overly optimistic.

because every time the cost goes up, the politicians go all "rising costs of education!!!" and give them more money.
My econ prof called it the "cookie monster" effect. Colleges go "Me want cookie!!!!" and spend $$$ on this, and super-fancy new buildings with HD video projectors in every classroom, and clubhouses for their sports teams, and what-not... om nom nom nom.... and, when they're done, there's another cookie there waiting for them! Rinse and repeat. Wonderful incentive structure there, no? Mmmmhmm....

Well, that depends on whether your goal was to have the Feds fund a really nice stadium, a brand-new library building full of Internets, a student body full of iPhones, and HD projectors in every classroom.... or simply providing young adults with an affordable high-quality college education. At a minimum it's not really proving that good at addressing Affordability.

Don't think in terms of "what", think "what for" - I don't really care what my tax dollars are spent on, as long as it helps the purpose, in this case of education. If iPhones do and the cost/benefit analysis works out (which might require a trial to test, that's fine) then that's ok with me. If HD projectors do, fine thing. Heck, if a daily blowjob for every student does, I'd be ok with that.

On the surface "more books" might sound like it's "more educational". But that's the surfac

Our college had a great collaboration concept - 3Com tested out wireless tech before it was widespread; and IBM provided wireless laptops for a certain set of courses. It worked out wonderfully and no students had tuition raised as a result.

Of course its affordable, as it gets more expensive the government chips in more and raises the limit of the loans it will back.

That has been the problem with college level education and health care. As soon as the government stepped in and started paying for things at set rates without asking questions the competitive market failed. The price of admission became "cost + what the government was willing to chip in".

We have some of the best tax payer funded education in the world but too many don't realize

There is no evidence that an increase federal tax dollars improves education. All you have to do is look at a list of the schools that have the highest per student federal spending and you will, in most cases, be looking at a list of the worst schools in the counrty.

You have a 12 million dollar building. Donors pay a large chunk (80%) The college pays 2.4 million dollars.

You don't build the building you don't get the doners to pay a large chunk (yea you not getting the millions of dollars) but you are not paying the 2.4 million dollars too, for a building you don't need.

2.4 million dollars, could go to something more useful.

It is like the old stereotype of the wife going shopping busting the bank in buying stuff she will never use because it was on sale at a good deal.

Usually it's the donors who give a large chunk of building costs that decide the new facilities should be super-fancy.

Correct, your typical university doesn't use tuition to build buildings, etc. It's typically setup in the University bylaws (it might even be a real law) that tuition has to only cover the costs of the education, and that money cannot be used for capital improvements. [wikipedia.org] However, when a generous alum builds a fancy new building on campus, it is up to the university to maintain it. These maintenance funds can be part of the tuition.

Something to think about should you ever decide to buy your alma mater a shi

In my undergrad this was the case:Every Department gets a budget. If they don't fully use that budget then the next year their budget will get cut. This created an effect where departments will wast money on a whole bunch of little things just so they can get more next year. So say the computer science department will need to find a way to spend 20k each year so they will have money budgeted for when their computers actually get out of date.

Then there are professors who keep their door locked and closed during their office hours so they won't be bothered (while they are getting paid)

Spending millions of dollars on these big events to attract politicians and other big names to boost up the prestigious level of the college. Putting in new "High Tech" Buildings where they just need some more internet cable spread across the building...

No I think it is due more to poor administration of funds....Every Department gets a budget. If they don't fully use that budget then the next year their budget will get cut. This created an effect where departments will wast money on a whole bunch of little things just so they can get more next year.

Ha, that's just how bureaucracy generally works.

The reasoning is that if you didn't spend the budgeted money, you didn't need all of it in the first place.

That would be fine and good if you are allowed to keep the surplus to the next fiscal year. Oh you ended up with 5k in your budget. Next you you will get 2.5k less. So you are rewarded for good spending the college gets the saving of giving a smaller budget.

Every Department gets a budget. If they don't fully use that budget then the next year their budget will get cut.

That was 30 years ago. Unless your place is the one right in front of the "End of the World" sign, it's not been true for at least 10, more probably 20 years. But it's a well-beloved Urban Myth and not going away that easily.

Can we get some realistic math for once? Attending a private school like ACU costs close to $110K for four years [acu.edu]. A fancy $300 PDA doesn't even begin to account for that.

Also, colleges now rely heavily on the web and email for communicating with students. Bulletins, class schedules, online study materials, web-based paperwork... It's efficient and cheap. This works better if everybody has a standard device that works the same way with the campus WiFi network. Usually, colleges accomplish this by making all the students buy a standard laptop or tablet.

That route makes sense to me, but I can guess why the ACU people went the PDA route. People take their PDAs everywhere, so ACU can get information out to the entire student body quickly. That makes for a convenient fact to cite when parents want to know what the school is doing to prevent another Virginia Tech.

Actually it was live reporting that was credited in saving several lives at Case Western a few years back, some students were listening to a live broadcast and moving around the building to avoid the attacker.

One of the biggest (in retrospect) security related problems that occurred at VTech was the second "attack." There was a two hour period after the first shooting in which no shooting occurred. During this two hour period, there was no way to warn the students about the shootings and give security advice/information. The main way that a university communicates with its students is via e-mail, but most students do not check their e-mail midday because they are in lectures. The second set of students who were shot could've been saved if there was a more rapid security bulletin delivery system in place.
There has been a shift in security information delivery systems in universities lately, in response to the VTech problems. My university has installed centrally controlled LCD screens in the highly trafficked areas on campus. This is another such method of enabling rapid deployment of important information. If every student has a PDA, the university can know for sure that security bulletins can be delivered quickly.
So actually, yes. This can prevent another attack.

Does the iPhone replace a more expensive student "necessity?" Most universities either explicitly or implicitly require a computer, and in most cases, a notebook. I read the article and found no mention of a traditional pc, though I'm sure they're used. I graduated from college in 1988, when you had to go to "the computer center" to use a pc that cost several thousand dollars. Can I reimagine it now, just toting around a little iPod Touch? More connected, fantastically more portable, AND cheaper? Hell

As mentioned above, this is a private institution and an expensive one at that. Giving students a free iPod is the least they could do. I know a married couple that goes there and I constantly wonder how they will ever possibly be able to pay back their very large student loans with their undergraduate degrees.

One can only hope that the college bubble bursts like all others do. College costs are more than slightly linked to the housing boom. People could draw more credit from their house than before in order to send to ludicrously priced colleges, so tutions went crazy. This is no longer the case. Now its a matter of convincing the administrations that they know longer have the money pool available and need to actually think about running on a realistic budget.

iPhone plans are bloody expensive... the plans start at over double what even a very robust normal cell phone plan would cost. Unless you need one for work and your company can pick up the tab, I'm inclined to think that they are just a money sink.

And those that don't want the monthly fees of getting a new cell phone can get the iPod Touch. I'm a big fan of not carrying around more crap than I have to never mind having internet anywhere with a cellular signal (anywhere but my house, of course) so I'd choose the iPhone in this situation (well, if I didn't already own one anyways), but that doesn't make your comparison any less inaccurate - at least relative to any other contract-based cell phone on the planet. At least with razors, you aren't contra

I agree. Most college students are already getting laptops so that they can take them to class. Is there really a time when having Internet access via your phone rather than your laptop (which you have with you in your backpack all day everyday anyway) is going to be more helpful? I doubt it. Just sounds like a white elephant gift to me... Here's a "free" phone - good luck paying the monthly fee while you're a student. Guess that's what student loans are for now?

I really don't see any issue. It's a private institution doing an experiment that just might work out for other institutions. Also for those who read the article it mentions that the apps are designed so that in the future one could go with a different phone. So once again audience, where's the problem?

Well they have two options - iPhone (which requires cell phone service) and the iPod Touch (which short of being able to make phone calls, will function like an iPhone will with the appropriate 802.11 connection).

No one is being forced to get a contract. Yes - I'm sure many will but they aren't being forced.

How much is Apple (or AT&T) paying said university to distribute these little profit-machines to these gullible students? Not that I wouldn't fall for it too, but honestly! I guess on the surface it's a win-win-win situation, but I can't help but think that someone is being taken advantage of.

When I first heard about this idea a few months ago, I knew that there would be some interesting consequences. Being that I graduated from ACU in December of '06, I know many of the people involved and have heard stories about what it takes to accomplish such a task.

ACU had to re-implement much of it's wireless structure in order to accommodate all of the new devices and ensure that students would have wireless coverage at every conceivable place on campus.

It will be interesting to see how it pans out and whether or not it works as well as the faculty and staff have envisioned.

The school is conducting a trial with a piece of hardware, maybe students will find interesting new ways to use it.Sure the majority will use it to goof off, but it's possible a couple resourceful students come up with something useful and everybody gains. Is it the absolute best way to use resources, maybe not; but it's quite a neat capable platform and only time will tell what interesting things students can come up with.

I think the school in question is a private religious institution, ergo no tax money being spent...

Wrong! The government cannot fund the university directly, but it can provide it's students financial aid (the Pell Grant I linked to being just one way) to help them with the cost of tuition. The financial aid the students receive of course gets paid to the university. It's unlikely that a wealthy alumni donated funds to buy each student an iPod. (they would likely encourage such alumni to buy them a new lecture hall or dorm instead) The funds almost certainly come from the tuition. Therefore, at leas

Blatant corporate sponsorship. No wonder these kids think that Apple invented the Internet and the GUI.

Coming up next: Student suspended for listening to MP3's. Administration cannot decide whether it was because it was a Samsung phone or because the music was not sold by iTunes and subject to their DRM.

... is basically doing the same thing ( http://www.oc.edu/apple/ [oc.edu] ). They are also offering the choice of a Dell, MacBook, or MacBook Pro.
Many of the students here chose the iTouch (including me) simply because they didn't want to pay the expensive monthly fees for the iPhone. My service charge would be $90 per month. I just can't afford that price being a student having other debts to pay off (like college tuition).
OC released an enterprise app for our iTouch/iPhone that lets us track things such as events going on, which laundry machines are open (through LaundryView), etc. I think it's pretty neat, but I'm not sure if it's worth the price tag.

The real headline should be something along the lines of freshmen class of Abilene Christian University all required to pay for brand new iPhones.

When I read the "New York Times Says Thin Clients Are Making a Comeback" headline, I thought of cellphone/pda apps. Considering books cost me around $300 a semester back in 1996-2000 and all the other ways that the university tried to leech a buck off my family, I'm not surprised that a college is doing something like this. This sounds and looks like a decent killer app for cell phones/PDAs.

I'm kinda sad though. I'd have thought that we'd have figured out how to get all this done, and my kids using this in elementary school right now. I'm really sad that colleges are just now getting there. I remember back in 1998 when my college just started their web app for signing up for classes. It was much, much better than their telephone system that they'd used before hand. We loved it.

My kids public school has a web app that'll show their 9 weeks grades and an event calendar. O.k. it's nice that they have anything, but still as a parent and tax payer, I'd want all their text books to be in pdf and able to be saved, viewed, printed, quoted from anywhere. I'd also want teachers grade books and PTA meetings online as well. There is a part of me that thinks class rooms need forums or a school running their own version of facebook, yet geared more along the lines of keeping track of all of a student's progress, projects, entire school history, homework, quizes, & test history for everything there, and doing it as a glorified year book. Especially to pound it into the student's head, that this is to make you and us look "good"!;)

as a parent and tax payer, I'd want all their text books to be in pdf and able to be saved, viewed, printed, quoted from anywhere.

This alone would have been awesome back in the early 90's. We had BBS's back then. Since the students weren't allowed to go to our lockers (Lockers can hide drugzngunz!) during the day, we had to carry all of our books everywhere. Leaving the books in the classrooms, then dialing a school BBS to read the material at home would have been uber-cool.

Everyone's saying this is a waste of money, but with tuition as much as it is, this is a drop in the bucket compared to what the students will be paying for their degrees. Do you think anybody will notice if their tuition went up 300 bucks over 4 years to cover the cost of these devices, that may have many benefits for their classes, such as easy class lookup and registration, online syllabus and course notes that are available with you all the time, and so on and so forth. When the teachers could rely on everybody having access to this stuff instead of just a few students, teachers can actually use the devices to improve their classes.

There is a choice. They could opt to get the iPod Touch which doesn't require any extra service. On top of that, they're building an infrastructure to have WiFi everywhere, which means that everyone will be able to use the resources that they're going to create for classes.

ACU has a tradition of taking calculated risks when it comes to how they do business as an educational institution. This quality is what puts ACU on the map consistently as a leader in education. There are lots of other universities who have tried to pull off programs like this, and many have succeeded. ACU gets this large amount of publicity because it simply is an Apple product that has significant penetration into the student population. Having been involved with the rollout plan for when/how this project was to mature, it could have happened sooner. However, ACU made the decision to wait until there was enough software designed to make this more than just a toy/promotional tool. In fact, the semester before these were handed out several research groups were formed consisting of both students and faculty to determine how these devices could be used most efficiently and even begin to work on their own coding projects to achieve these goals.

These calculated risks are not just in how they were to be used in an educational setting, but also in the technology implementation. It was a significant challenge to provide that large a scale of wireless access. Having worked on it, I must admit that wireless deployment is an artform in how you balance capacity versus coverage with hundreds of environmental factors affecting your decisions. There are many great pieces of software to try and assist you making the optimal placement choices, but they frequently require large amounts of time for data entry for only a minor change in quality. When it boils down to is still the same procedure that has been used for years; deploy 90% of AP, turn it on and survey it, then use the remaining 10% to fill in the holes you missed. Sofar, most of the risky decisions that were made appear to have payed off and leave only a known portion to be expanded in the future.

I'm proud to have graduated from this university in May and have the privilege of working with the IS department for several years.

One thing that is interesting is that there are a large number of Roman Catholics that do acknowledge that. But other than that, every branch attached to Protestantism seems to follow the concept that the bible speaks the truth, and scientific theory is as theoretical as the theory that there are tunnels in the north and south pole that connect in the center of the earth. I completely disregard anything related to religion in my life. And that includes the so called morals from religion. I guess I'm good en

ACU teaches that the earth is round, revolves around the sun, and that life evolved via natural selection. The astronomy course I took here didn't even mention the possibility of the earth being young; it was the Big Bang, 4.6 billion year old Earth, etc. "Alternatives" based in pseudo-science and an over-literal reading of Genesis were not even on the table. I've also never had a Bible professor even suggest that the Bible should be treated as a science book - every single one I've talked to on the subj

"Do universities even know what they exist for these days? Certainly those thousands of dollars would have been better spent by providing students with better classrooms, attracting better professors, or more scholarships for families with financial trouble."

Hmmm. So how do you feel about third-world countries getting the internet?

It's pretty simple, they can boycott the university if they don't like it.

Given the fact that this is part of some experiment that they're doing I'd like to think that they have a full plan laid down on what goals are to be reached to determine if this is useful or not.

I know that on the surface it looks like kids being given toys in an attempt to rope them in to attending the university but if they really are putting stuff out their on their intranet to make life more tolerable maybe it has a serious edu